The average cost for a heater with an air conditioner is around $7,000 for most homes in York, PA, Manchester, and other South Central PA towns. That’s for equipment plus installation. The typical range is $5,000 to $10,000, with the most expensive around $15,000. The cost takes into account: 

• Size and layout of your home
• BTUs and tonnage requirements
• Energy efficiency ratings
• Your needs as a homeowner

Contact Us About Your Heating System

If you’re suddenly in the market for a heater replacement in South Central, PA, or if your furnace or other heating system shows signs of wear, you can start your research here. Unfortunately, we can’t give you a solid price without seeing your home and getting more information. But, we can give you an idea of what you expect. 

Read More: Four Signs Your Heater May Be Broken

This article walks through all the factors that affect the price — including the options you can choose for your home. Once that’s all laid out, we’ll provide a few standard systems and their costs. 

If you have any questions or are ready to talk to someone about your new system, call or email us here at Air Comfort Technologies for a free consultation. 

1. Furnace And Central Air

1.1. Benefits Of Buying Both Together

1.2.1. Matching Equipment

1.2.2. Blower Motors

1.2.3. Warranties 

1. Size And Load Calculation

2.1. Why You Need Right-Sized Equipment

2.1.1. Undersized Furnaces

2.1.2. Oversized Furnaces

2.2. Load Calculations

2.2.1. Factors

2.2.2. BTUs

2.2.3. Tonnage

1. Energy Efficiency Options

3.1. AFUE

3.1.2. 80% Or 95%

3.2. SEER

3.2.2. 14 Vs. 16

1. Cost Breakdowns For Heaters
2. Heater Replacement In York, PA 

Furnace And Central Air

First, you may have noticed that we automatically bundled “furnace” and “central air” together instead of just giving you a price for a heater. We did it because those systems are connected. You may picture the outdoor condenser when you think of central air. But, the indoor component, which is the cooling coil, is connected to the furnace. 

Read More: Why Winter Is The Best Time To Replace Your AC System

Benefits Of Buying Both Together

While you can purchase just a furnace, that’s not the best plan if you also have central air. Three reasons to install a completely new heating and cooling system at the same time are: 

• Matching Equipment

• Blower Motors 

• Warranties

Matching Equipment

Without getting too technical here, you’ll increase your performance and efficiency when your central air coil matches the furnace. When you start mixing and matching, you’ll lose out on performance when different components aren’t designed to work with each other. 

Blower Motors

Here’s a specific reason to replace both systems at the same time: An older blower motor won’t work with a new air conditioner, and vice versa. New systems use ECM (electronically commutated motors) for better performance. But, if your old system has a PSG motor, that’s what your AC is built for. Pairing it with an ECM motor won’t help the matter. 

Warranties 

It’s more convenient and cost-effective to get a whole new system with a complete warranty. This way, there’s no wiggle room for a manufacturer not to pay out if there’s a problem with a new furnace. If it’s paired with an old AC coil, the warranty may become void. 

Case Studies: American Standard HVAC Offers Convenience, Comfort, And Cost-Savings

Size And Load Calculation

Our first significant factor here is what size furnace you need for your home. If you liked the way your old system worked, we’d likely replace it with one that’s the same size. But, if you always had rooms that were too cold in the winter or experienced other problems, we’ll double-check the load calculation. 

Why You Need Right-Sized Equipment

You can imagine that a furnace too small for your home is no good. But, the same is true for ones that are too powerful. We’ll explain why here. 

Read More: How Long Should An Air Conditioner Run Without Stopping? 

Undersized Furnaces

An undersized furnace runs way too often because it can never get your home warm enough. You’ll always have rooms that are too cold. And, the system will wear down and burn out years earlier than it should because of all the extra work. 

Oversized Furnaces

A furnace that’s too strong turns on and off too often. It sends a blast of heat that’s too powerful, which backs up into the system and overheats it. The system shuts down as a failsafe. As a result, it never runs long enough to do the job. And, the constant on-and-off is unnatural and wears down the components. 

Read More: Why Does My Heater Keep Turning On And Off?

Load Calculations

We use a specific formula to determine what size and strength your furnace requires. It takes into account: 

• Square footage of the home
• Window size and placement
• Insulation 
• Orientation of the house

 

BTUs

BTUs, or British Thermal Units, are the units of measurement for heater strength. As a very general guideline, you can estimate your need by multiplying your home square footage by 30 for newer homes and 35 for older homes. But that’s just a starting point.

Tonnage

Tonnage is how we measure the strength of an air conditioning system. Once again, the approximate guideline is one ton of cooling for every 600 square feet. 

Energy Efficiency Options

You don’t have much say over the size of the system you need. But, you can choose from different efficiency ratings. The higher the efficiency, the more the upfront cost. But, your energy bills will be lower all year. So, there’s a balance to it. 

If you’re planning to stay in your home for a while, go with higher efficiency. You’ll make back the “extra” money spent through those lower energy bills. But, if you’re moving soon, you can go with lower efficiency. It’s less to spend, and you won’t be around later to reap the benefits. 

AFUE

We measure heater efficiency by AFUE (Annual fuel utilization efficiency). It’s a percentage telling you how much of your fuel gets used for heating. The remainder gets wasted through the exhaust. 

Today’s models are 80% or 95%. With the lower rating, 80 cents of every dollar you spend on heating goes toward warming your house. With the higher one, it’s 95 cents of every dollar. 

SEER

SEER, or Seasonal Energy Efficiency Ratio, measures how much energy your AC uses to do the job. The higher the rating, the less energy you use — and the less you pay on your bills. 

The minimum requirement is 13 SEER for central air systems In Pennsylvania. The scale goes to Anything 16 or above is considered high-efficiency. Mitsubishi mini-splits are among the most efficient systems available, and their highest rating is 30.5. 

Cost Breakdowns For Heaters

Now, with all these factors in mind, let’s do a closer cost breakdown for heaters. Again, we can’t give you an exact amount without seeing your home. Here are two common combinations for your average home up to 2,000 square feet or so: 

The $5,500 number from before is for a low-efficiency (80% AFUE, 13-SEER) system with two tons for AC and 45,000 BTUs. For $7,200, you can upgrade the efficiency to 16 SEER and 95% AFUE. 

For larger homes — 3,000 square feet or more — the low-efficiency models are around $10,000, and high-efficiency is $14,000. However, you may want to consider other solutions, including dual furnaces or ductless mini-splits. They offer better control over the temperature in each part of the house. 

Read More: What Does A Ductless Mini-Split Cost?

Heater Replacement In York, PA 

With more than 150 five-star Google reviews, Air Comfort Technologies is the trusted name for heater replacement in York, Manchester, Lancaster, Columbia, Hanover, Dover, PA, and other South Central Pennsylvania towns. For a free consultation, call us or click the link below.

Contact Us About Your Heating System